Five killed in Texas plane crash identified as Amarillo pickleball players
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The names of the five people who died in a plane crash while transporting a football team to a tournament in Central Texas have been released.
On board were Amarillo Pickleball Club players Hayden Dillard, Seren Wilson, Brooke Skypala and Stacy Hedrick, all from Amarillo, Texas, and pilot Justin Appling, who is also a pickleball player.
Wilson, the youngest, was an accomplished tennis player. In 2022, his University Interscholastic League team became the tennis state champion, according to his alma mater Amarillo High School tennis booster club.
CLICK HERE TO GET MORE SPORTS NEWS ON FOXNEWS.COM
A crashed Cessna plane is seen in a wooded area off Round Rock Road in Wimberley, Texas, on Friday, May 1, 2026. (Jay Janner/Austin American Statesman via AP)
Another player, Sarah Lister, who met Dillard and Appling during pickleball tournaments, described them to the Associated Press as real people. He said Appling always made them laugh and Dillard was a great businesswoman and mother.
Dillard has two daughters, one of whom is about to start college, he said. Lister said Dillard and Appling played mixed doubles together for a long time, and Skypala was Dillard’s partner in women’s doubles.
“The pickleball world is super, super small, even though it’s also very big,” Lister said. “And when one of us experiences a tragedy like this, it’s like the whole community is affected.”
Club member Leroy Clifford, who traveled to the tournament on another plane, considered them all family, even though he had just met Wilson. They had traveled together to Pro Pickleball Association-sanctioned tournaments across the country, from Dallas to Las Vegas. They bonded over their involvement in pickleball’s top competitions, but at the same time they didn’t take themselves too seriously.
“The one thing I can say about this group is, you wanted to be around this group. They were fun, they were carefree, they weren’t uptight, they were just relaxed, they loved to joke around with each other and make fun of each other,” Clifford said, according to The Associated Press. “You couldn’t ask for better friends, honestly.”
He played the most with Skypala, whom he described as quick-witted and a natural athlete.
“He was very witty, super sweet and very funny,” Clifford said.
Dan Dyer, president of the Amarillo Pickleball Club, said he played many games with four of the five people who died.
“I gave them medals. They were excellent players. They went out to win some matches,” Dyer said. “There are dozens of tournaments every weekend. Some people get the bug, others don’t. But once they get it, they’ll travel for a tournament.”
SMALL PLANE CRASHES NEAR HICKS AIRPORT IN TEXAS, REPORTED TO CAUSE MANY SEMI-TRUCK FIRES
DPS said in a statement Saturday that investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were on the scene and were serving as lead investigative agencies.
However, the cause of the accident has not yet been determined.
The plane crashed at 11 p.m. Thursday in the city of Wimberley, 40 miles southwest of Austin.
A Cessna plane is seen crashing in a wooded area off Round Rock Road in Wimberley, Texas, on May 1, 2026. (Jay Janner/Austin American Statesman)
Dyer said a second plane also arrived at the event from Amarillo at the same time. Officials said the plane landed safely at the airport in New Braunfels, about 50 kilometers northeast of San Antonio.
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION
“I haven’t heard anything from him,” said the pilot of the second plane. air traffic control sound.
A controller responded: “He started moving erratically and now his track has disappeared from view. So we want to make sure everything is okay for him.”
At least one pilot in the area confirmed that the troubled plane’s locator emergency device was emitting a distress signal. The controller called 911.
The National Weather Service said skies were mostly cloudy in the New Braunfels area shortly before the crash, and the storm hit two hours later.
A Cessna aircraft crashed in a wooded area off Round Rock Road in Wimberley, Texas, on May 1, 2026. (Jay Janner/Austin American Statesman/AP)
Wimberley, with a population of about 3,000, and New Braunfels, with a population of about 116,000, are tourist attractions in the Texas Hill Country.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
Follow Fox News Digital Sports streaming on Xand subscribe Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
